Preloader employing enhanced messages

ABSTRACT

A disclosed method of serving web page requests includes detecting a client request for a web page that contains an object. A preloader application is invoked to execute while the object is downloading to the client. The preloader application displays a preloader message during at least part of the downloading interval. At least a part of the preloader message is an advertisement or is otherwise unrelated to a progress of the downloading of the object. A size of the object may exceed a specified threshold and/or a type of the object may match any of a set of predetermined object types. The set of predetermined object types may include a Java® object type, a Flash® object type, or another object type suitable for implementing motion graphics. In some embodiments, the preloader application resides on a third party web site.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to web serving and more particularly toweb serving pages that take a relatively long time to transfer to aclient.

2. Description of the Related Art

Many websites include objects, including Java® objects, a registeredtrademark of Sun Microsystems, and Flash® objects, a registeredtrademark of Adobe Systems, that facilitate feature-rich animationsand/or site navigation. Many of these objects are quite large and,therefore, require an extended period to download to a user's desktopwhere the objects can be played or otherwise executed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of selected elements of a networked system forserving web pages;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of selected elements of an embodiment of theclient of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of selected elements of an embodiment of theweb server of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of selected elements of an embodiment of thepreloader server of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of selected elements of an embodiment of a webserving method; and

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of selected elements of an embodiment of apreloader method.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)

In one aspect, a disclosed method of serving web page requests includesdetecting a client request for a web page that contains an object. Apreloader application is invoked to execute during at least part of adownloading interval during which the object is downloading to theclient. The preloader application displays a preloader message during atleast part of the downloading interval. At least a part of the preloadermessage is unrelated to the progress of the downloading of the object. Asize of the object may exceed a specified threshold or a type of theobject may match any of a set of predetermined object types. The set ofpredetermined object types may include a Java® object type, a Flash®object type, or another object type suitable for implementing motiongraphics. In some embodiments, the preloader application resides on athird party web site. In these embodiments, invoking the preloader mayinclude the web server requesting a universal resource locator of thethird party web site. In some embodiments, the preloader messages mayinclude an advertisement of a fourth party. The part of the preloadermessage unrelated to the progress may include an advertisement for goodsor services. The preloader may play a series of preloader messages. Thepreloader may select the message(s) to play from a set of availablemessages based at least in part on an estimate of a time required todownload the object. The selection of the message may be influenced byother factors including, as examples, the subject matter of therequested web page, a demographic characteristic of the client, the timeof day, the time of year, the day of the week, and a geographic locationof the client.

In another aspect, a disclosed computer program product includescomputer executable instructions, stored on a computer readable medium,for serving web pages where the instructions include instructions todetect a preloader request from a web server where the preloader requestis associated with an object in a web page requested by a client andserved by the web server. The instructions further include instructionsto play a preloader message that includes an advertisement while the webpage object is downloading. The preloader message may be selected from aplurality of available preloader messages. The instructions may includeinstructions to select the preloader message based at least in part onan estimate of a time required to download the object. The instructionsmay further include instructions to detect completion of the preloadermessage, determine an estimate of a remaining time for downloading theobject to the client, select a next preloader message to play based atleast in part on the remaining time estimate, and play the selected nextpreloader message. The instructions may further include instructions toestimate a time required to download the object prior to playing thepreloader message. The preloader message may include an advertisementfor goods or services of a fourth party that is distinct from a partyassociated with the web server or a party associated with the preloaderapplication. In some embodiments, the instructions may includeinstructions to play a progress item indicative of a progress of thedownloading of the object. The preloader request may include the webserver transmitting a request for a universal resource locatorassociated with the preloader application. The preloader application maybe located remote to the web server.

In still another aspect, a disclosed service for processing web pagerequests includes providing a network accessible preloader applicationthat is operable to respond to a preloader request from a web server byplaying a preloader message during at least part of an interval duringwhich an object is downloading to a client. At least part of the messageincludes an advertisement or is otherwise unrelated to the progress ofdownloading the object. The preloader may select the message from aplurality of available messages based on the time required to downloadthe object or other factors. In some embodiments, the preloaderapplication generates the estimate of the downloading duration. Thepreloader application in some cases may select and play multiplemessages during the downloading. In some of these cases, the preloaderapplication may select a second message after completion of the firstmessage based at least in part on an estimate of time remaining tocomplete the download.

In the following description, details are set forth by way of example tofacilitate discussion of the disclosed subject matter. It should beapparent to a person of ordinary skill in the field, however, that thedisclosed embodiments are exemplary and not exhaustive of all possibleembodiments. Throughout this disclosure, a hyphenated form of areference numeral refers to a specific instance of an element and theun-hyphenated form of the reference numeral refers to the elementgenerically or collectively. Thus, for example, widget 102-1 refers toan instance of a widget class, which may be referred to collectively aswidgets 102 and any one of which may be referred to generically as awidget 102.

Referring now to the drawings, FIG. 1 depicts selected elements of anembodiment of a networked system 100. In the depicted embodiment, system100 includes a client 110, a web server 120, and a preloader server 130all connected to a network 140. In some embodiments, network 140 mayinclude elements of a public network such as the Internet, a privatenetwork including Internet Protocol (IP) based private networks, orboth.

Client 110, described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 2, mayinclude a web browser or other application suitable for requesting a webpage or other information from web server 120. Web server 120, describedin more detail below with respect to FIG. 3, is operable to process webrequests from clients and to provide requesting clients with web pagesor other data applicable to the corresponding request. In someembodiments, preloader server 130 hosts a special purpose application,referred to herein as a preloader application, that is invoked by webserver 120. Web server 120 may invoke preloader server 130 when a webpage requested by client 110 from web server 120 includes an object thatis suitable for invoking a preloader application.

In some cases, the types of objects that might cause web server 120 toinvoke a preloader application of preloader server 130 include objectsthat are large and/or objects that are of a type that may requireextended time to download to client 110. Examples of object types thatmay require extended download times include Flash® objects, Java®objects, and other objects that might support graphic animations, videopresentation, and the like. When client 110 requests a web page from webserver 120 and web server 120 determines that the requested web pageincludes an object suitable for preloading, web server 120 may issue arequest to preloader server 130 to execute its preloader application.The request from web server 120 to preloader server 130 may includeinformation from which the preloader application can determine theobject subject to preloading.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment in which preloader server 130is remote and distinct from web server 120, other embodiments mayintegrate some or all elements of a preloader application into webserver 120. The embodiment depicted in FIG. 1 is compatible with animplementation in which web servers, including web server 120, caninvoke preloader services offered by a third party provider. Thisarrangement beneficially simplifies the effort required of web page andother developers to incorporate a preloader into their applications. Adistributor of third party preloader applications may permit andencourage web page developers to incorporate relatively simple codesegments to invoke the developer's preloader applications. The thirdparty preloader applications distributor may then be free to offerservices by way of the preloader application. For example, the thirdparty may play advertisements or other content as part of the preloaderapplication. The third party in such cases might obtain revenue from theentities that wish to have their advertisements play when a web serveris downloading an extensive object.

Referring now to FIG. 2, selected elements of an embodiment of client110 are illustrated. In the illustrated embodiment, web server 120includes a processor 201 having access to a storage resource 210.Processor 201 may be implemented with a general purpose microprocessorsuch as in a desktop or notebook personal computer, an embeddedprocessor such as in a personal digital assistant (PDA) or other mobileand network aware device, or another suitable processor device. Client110 as shown further includes an I/O adapter 240 supportingcommunication with a keyboard and a mouse or pointing device,collectively represented by reference numeral 245 and a display adapter230 connected to a display device 235. A network adapter 220 is operableto connect client 110 to an external network including the network 140depicted in FIG. 1.

The storage resource 210 of client 110 may include a volatile portionincluding a portion of Random Access Memory as well as a non volatileportion including magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, magnetictapes, Read Only Memory devices, flash memory devices, and the like.Storage resource 210 may include computer software modules in the formof computer executable instructions stored on the storage resource.Client 110 as depicted includes software modules stored in storage 210.The software modules include a client operating system (OS) 211 and aweb browser 212. OS 211 supports memory management, program scheduling,and other functions of client 110. OS 211 is exemplified by commerciallydistributed operating systems such as the Windows® family of operatingsystems from Microsoft although other operating systems including Unixbased operating systems may be used. Web browser 212 encompassesconventional and pervasive web browser applications for enabling usersto “surf” a network such as the Internet by providing a graphical userinterface that enables users to generate Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP) requests. An example of an application suitable for use as webbrowser 212 is the Internet Explorer browser from Microsoft.

Referring now to FIG. 3, selected elements of an embodiment of the webserver 120 of FIG. 1 are shown. In the depicted embodiment, web server120 includes a processor 301 connected and having access to a storageresource 310. The processor 301 is further connected to network adapter320. Network adapter 320, like network adapter 220 in FIG. 2, enablesweb server 120 to communicate with the network 140. Storage resource310, like storage resource 210, may include volatile and nonvolatilestorage media. Storage 310 includes a web server operating system 311, aweb server application 312, and a web page 314 that includes an object315. Operating system 311 may be any suitable server class operatingsystem including Unix compliant and Unix-like operating systemsincluding Linux and Linux derivative operating system. Web serverapplication 312 may include elements of commercially distributed webservers such as an Apache HTTP Server application. Web serverapplication 312 may, however, include additional elements including, forexample, functionality to invoke a resident or third party preloaderapplication when a requested web page being served by the web serverapplication includes an object that is suitable for employing apreloader application.

In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, storage resource 310 includes aweb page 314 that includes a web object 315 or, more simply, object 315.Depending upon the implementation, object 315 may represent a relativelylarge, e.g., greater than 1 MB, file or object such as a Flash® objector a Java® object that “executes” in conjunction with a plug in or standalone “player” application 214 that is resident on client 110. When aclient such as client 110 requests web page 314 from web server 120, webserver 120 may begin the process of downloading or otherwisetransferring the object 315 to client 110 so that the client's player214 can play the object and the user can view the web page as it wasdesigned to be viewed.

Web server application 312 may include the ability to invoke a preloaderapplication when appropriate. For example, web server application 312may invoke a preloader whenever a client requests a web page thatincludes an object that is greater than a specified size threshold orwhenever the client requests a web page that includes an object of acertain type such as a Flash® type object, a Java® type object, oranother object type suitable for generating animations and the like. Insome embodiments, web server application 312 invokes a preloaderapplication, but initiates the transfer of object 315 to client 110 byitself, either before or after invoking the preloader application. Inother embodiments, web server application 312 may simply invoke thepreloader application by specifying the object to be transferred and adestination address, i.e., the client's IP or other network address. Insuch cases, the preloader application may be responsible for actualinitiation of the download or transfer of object 315 to client 110.

Referring now to FIG. 4, selected elements of an embodiment of preloaderserver 130 are shown. In the depicted implementation, preloader server130, like web server 120, includes a processor 401 connected to anetwork adapter 420 and a storage resource 410. Storage resource 410 asshown includes an operating system 411 and a preloader application 412.OS 411 may be implemented with any suitable server class operatingsystem including, for example, a Unix operating system or a Unixderivative operating system. Preloader application 412 as depicted inFIG. 4 has access to a data structure identified as message database414. Message database 414 may contain one or more messages 416-1 through416-N of varying lengths, formats, and subject matters. Messages 416 mayinclude, as an example, a commercial advertisement for goods orservices. The goods or services may be the goods or services of anentity affiliated with preloader server 130, an entity affiliated withweb server 120, or an entity not affiliated with either. An entity notaffiliated with either web server 120 or preloader server 130 isreferred to herein as a “fourth” party entity to emphasize the webserver as the second party and the preloader application as the thirdparty.

Some embodiments of the web serving features described herein areimplemented as computer software modules which include computerexecutable instructions that reside in a computer readable storagemedium such as the storage resources 210, 310, and/or 410. When thesecomputer software modules are executed, they cause one or more serversor other devices to perform methods that can be represented as flowdiagrams.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram depicts selected elements of anembodiment of a method 500 for serving a web page. In the depictedembodiment, method 500 includes a web server such as web server 120detecting (block 502) a client request for a web page where therequested web page includes an object that may require considerable timeto download to the client. In the depicted embodiment, method 500includes initiating (block 504) the downloading of the object to theclient. In other embodiments, initiation of the actual downloading ofthe object may be delegated to the preloader application.

In the depicted embodiment, method 500 includes invoking (block 506) apreloader application to display one or more messages during thedownload interval, i.e., the time during which the object is downloadingto the client. In some implementations, block 506 includes web server120 determining whether an object in a requested web page justifiesinvoking a preloader application by determining if the object meetscertain criteria. For example, web server 120 may apply size and/or typecriteria to an object to determine if the object justifies invoking apreloader application. In such embodiments, web server 120 may comparethe size of the object against a predetermined threshold and/or comparethe type of object against a set of pre-identified object typesincluding, as examples, Flash® objects and Java® objects. If the objectmeets one or more of the criteria, the method 500 invokes the preloaderapplication.

As indicated previously, the preloader application may be resident onweb server 120 or remotely located on a third party preloader server130. In cases where the preloader application is hosted on a third partypreloader server, invoking the preloader application may include webserver 120 acting as a client and issuing a web request to preloaderserver 130 to invoke the preloader application. For example, web server120 may invoke the preloader application by transmitting a uniformresource locator identifying the preloader server and/or the preloaderapplication hosted therein.

In some embodiments, the message(s) displayed when the preloaderapplication is invoked include(s) at least one message or messageportion that is unrelated to the progress of the downloading of theobject to the client. Conventional applications for downloading largefiles may include an hour glass or other information that attempts toindicate progress of the download including, for example, how much timeremains until the download is complete. While the preloader applicationdescribed herein may display information indicative of the downloadprogress, it may also display commercial advertisements or othermessages unrelated to the progress of the download.

After method 500 as shown in FIG. 5 invokes the preloader in block 506,it monitors (block 508) for completion of the object download. When thedownloading of the object is complete as determined in block 510, method500 includes serving (block 512) the web page, including the object, tothe client to fulfill the client request.

Referring now to FIG. 6, selected elements of an embodiment of apreloader method 600 employed by a preloader application are presented.Preloader method 600 may represent an application hosted on or otherwiseexecuting on a third party preloader server 130 or executing on webserver 120 itself. In the embodiment depicted in FIG. 6, preloadermethod 600 detects (block 602) a preloader request issued by web server120. The detected preloader request corresponds to a client request fora web page that contains an object appropriate for using a preloaderapplication. Such objects are referred to in FIG. 6 as “preloadable”objects, which may include large objects and/or Flash® objects, Java®objects, or other objects of specific types.

As depicted in FIG. 6, preloader method 600 includes estimating (block604) a download interval for the preloadable object. In someembodiments, the web server's preloader request may include informationfrom which the method 600 may estimate the download interval directly.This information might include the size of the preloadable object, thedestination of the object, and possibly an estimated bandwidth for aconnection between the web server and the client. In other embodiments,the preloader application may receive the download interval estimatefrom a calculation made by the web server. In this case, the estimateddownload interval is simply passed to the preloader application as aparameter.

In block 606, preloader method 600 as shown includes selecting one ormore messages for displaying. In the illustrated implementation, theselection of messages is based at least in part on the estimateddownload interval, possibly in conjunction with other factors. Forexample, the selection of messages may be based partly on a comparisonbetween the length of a particular message and the estimated downloadinterval. If the length of a message is longer than the estimateddownload interval, preloader method 600 may exclude the particularmessage as a candidate. If a message is relatively short compared to theestimated download interval, the preloader application may selectmultiple messages and display them sequentially. In still otherembodiments, the selection of messages may be based on factors such asdemographic information associated with the client, if known, thesubject matter with which the requested web page is concerned, the timeof day, the day of the year, the day of the week, a geographicindication of the client, and so forth. Using these other factors,commercial advertisements and other messages may be targeted to be ofparticular interest to the user.

After selecting one or more messages, preloader method 600 as shownincludes playing (block 608) the selected message or messages. In someembodiments, the messages are relatively short such as banner ads thatare lightweight and that load and execute quickly. The messages playedin block 608 may be of any suitable format including, as examples, audiofiles, video files, multimedia files, images, and so forth. Preloadermethod 600 as depicted then monitors (block 610) for completion of amessage being played and for completion of the download. If a messagecompletes before the download completes preloader method 600 may selectand play an additional message in block 612. The selection of anadditional message may include, for example, determining an estimate ofthe remaining download interval and selecting a message based in part onthe estimate. Preloader method 600 as shown further includes terminating(block 614) or otherwise aborting the message playing if the preloaderapplication determines that the downloading of the object has completedprior to the end of the current message.

In embodiments where the preloader server determines the selection ofmessages, advertisers may contract with the preloader server operatorfor placing advertisements. The preloader server operator may thensimplify and freely distribute the code necessary to incorporate apreloader request into a particular web page or other document. Thisimplementation model will provide the web page developers with an easyto incorporate and free or inexpensive preloader while enabling thepreloader server operator to realize revenue from the advertising.

The above disclosed subject matter is to be considered illustrative, andnot restrictive, and the appended claims are intended to cover all suchmodifications, enhancements, and other embodiments which fall within thetrue spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, to the maximumextent allowed by law, the scope of the present disclosure is to bedetermined by the broadest permissible interpretation of the followingclaims and their equivalents, and shall not be restricted or limited bythe foregoing detailed description.

1. A method of serving web page requests, comprising: detecting a clientrequest for a web page containing an object; and invoking a preloaderapplication to execute during at least part of a downloading intervalduring which the object is downloading to the client; wherein thepreloader application displays a preloader message during at least partof the downloading interval and wherein at least a part of the preloadermessage is unrelated to a progress of the downloading of the object. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein a size of the object exceeds a specifiedthreshold or a type of the object matches any of a set of predeterminedobject types.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of predeterminedobject types includes a Java® object type and a Flash® object type. 4.The method of claim 1, wherein the part of the preloader messageunrelated to the downloading progress includes an advertisement forgoods or services.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the preloaderapplication resides on a third party web site.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein invoking the preloader application comprises the web serverrequesting a universal resource locator of the third party web site. 7.The method of claim 5, wherein the part of the preloader messageunrelated to the downloading progress includes an advertisement forgoods or services of a fourth party.
 8. The method of claim 1, whereinthe preloader application plays a plurality of preloader messages. 9.The method of claim 1, wherein the preloader application selects thepreloader message from a set of available messages based at least inpart on an estimate of a time for downloading the object.
 10. A computerprogram product comprising computer executable instructions stored on acomputer readable medium, for serving web pages, the instructionscomprising instructions to: detect a preloader request from a webserver, the preloader request being associated with the web serverdownloading an object in a web page requested by a client; and play apreloader message while the object is downloading, wherein the preloadermessage includes an advertisement.
 11. The computer program product ofclaim 10, further comprising instructions to select the preloadermessage from a plurality of available preloader messages.
 12. Thecomputer program product of claim 10, wherein selecting the preloadermessage includes selecting the preloader message based at least in parton an estimate of a time required to download the object.
 13. Thecomputer program product of claim 10, further comprising instructionsto: detect completion of the preloader message; determine an estimate ofa remaining time for downloading the object to the client; select a nextpreloader message to play based at least in part on the remaining timeestimate; and play the selected next preloader message.
 14. The computerprogram product of claim 10, further comprising instructions to estimatea time required to download the object prior to playing the preloadermessage.
 15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein thepreloader message includes an advertisement of a fourth party.
 16. Thecomputer program product of claim 10, further comprising instructions toplay a progress item indicative of a progress of the downloading of theobject.
 17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein thepreloader request includes the web server transmitting a request for auniversal resource locator associated with a preloader application. 18.The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the preloaderapplication is located remote to the web server.
 19. A service forprocessing web page requests comprising providing a network accessiblepreloader application, wherein the preloader application is operable torespond to a preloader request from a web server by playing a preloadermessage during at least part of an interval during which an object isdownloading to a client, wherein at least part of the message isunrelated to progress of the downloading of the object.
 20. The serviceof claim 19, wherein the message comprises an advertisement for goods orservices.
 21. The service of claim 19, wherein the preloader applicationis operable to select the message from a plurality of availablemessages.
 22. The service of claim 21, wherein selection of the messageincludes selecting the message based at least in part on an estimate ofthe duration of the downloading of the object.
 23. The service of claim22, wherein the preloader application is operable to generate theestimate of the duration.
 24. The service of claim 23, wherein thepreloader application is operable to select and play a plurality ofmessages during the downloading of the object.
 25. The service of claim24, wherein the preloader application is operable to select a secondmessage after completion of the first message based at least in part onan estimate of time remaining to complete the download of the object.